Kellen Moore didn’t dodge the temperature around the Saints on Wednesday. He just kept bringing it back to the same place: everyone in the building wants the same fix.
A day after owner Gayle Benson said the team’s 1-4 start was “not acceptable to me, and it falls short of what our fans truly deserve. ... I will not make excuses, and I will not accept this level of performance as our standard,” Moore addressed the backlash at his regular midweek media session and echoed her call for better play.
“Mrs. B is great,” Moore said. “And she, like all of us, we all want better results.”
The Saints have dropped four of their first five games and have already lost three straight at home. Next up is a trip to face the NFC East-leading New York Giants, who are 3-1-1, on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Moore’s first season as an NFL head coach ended at 6-11, and he enters this weekend with a 7-15 overall record. The climb gets steeper from here: historically, teams that start 1-4 make the playoffs less than 8 percent of the time.
That reality has only fueled the noise around the franchise. After Sunday’s sluggish loss to Minnesota, fans online have called on Benson to part with longtime general manager Mickey Loomis and move on from Moore, who was hired after winning a Super Bowl ring as the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator.
Some of those suggestions have already centered on big names, with Saints Hall of Famer and current Fox Sports analyst Drew Brees and former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin - now working as an NFL commentator for NBC Sports - among the names fans have pushed Benson to consider for the front office and sideline.
Moore didn’t directly address whether he feels pressure from the outside chatter, but he did acknowledge the business side of the league.
“And that’s how this business is,” Moore said Wednesday.
From there, he kept the message centered on response, not reaction.
“We got great guys in this building that are doing everything they can to find the formula,” Moore said. “And all we can control is moving forward, as far as playing better, coaching better, giving ourselves the opportunities moving forward. ...
I think our guys have the right mindset against the NFL. There’s ups and there’s downs.
And, you know, it’s about navigating those and getting better moving forward.”
Moore closed by stressing that the goals inside the building haven’t changed.
“We all want the same thing. And so, we’re all shooting for that. We all got the same objectives and we just got to get better moving forward.”
Quarterback Tyler Shough, who threw two interceptions and finished with just 96 passing yards in Sunday’s 23-13 loss to the Vikings, said the players are fully aware of the public frustration.
“You obviously see it. It’s all over social media,” Shough said.
“I think it doesn’t affect our day-to-day process. And we can’t let it, regardless.
Because, we win a game and you’re the greatest people ever. And you lose some games, and it’s the worst thing ever.
“I’ve said it before: We’re going to have a really good chance to go on a run here. I think it starts with controlling what we can, and all of a sudden the narrative changes, or not or we continue to slip. And we’ve got to find a way to control that.”
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Saints Pressure Is Rising Fast After Public Message To Kellen Moore
The early weeks of the 2026 season have already put the Saints in a difficult spot, and the frustration around the team has moved well beyond the building. New Orleans is 1-4, and team owner Gayle Benson made her dissatisfaction with the level of play clear in public, a notable signal of how quickly the mood has turned around a club that expected more stability under Kellen Moore.
Moore responded by stressing the organizations commitment to improvement, but the on-field results have not given the Saints much breathing room. With losses piling up and the schedule bringing the New York Giants next, New Orleans suddenly finds itself trying to steady both its play and its confidence before the pressure gets any heavier. [Read more 🡒]
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Kellen Moore is feeling the kind of early-season heat that comes with coaching in New Orleans, where expectations rarely wait for the calendar to catch up. After the Saints stumbled to a 1-4 start in 2026, Moore was asked about team performance and about owner Gayle Bensons recent comments pushing for results, a message that landed even harder after the clubs strong finish to last year.
Moore said he and Benson share the same goal of getting the team moving in the right direction, but he did not frame the conversation as one that requires a wholesale change in how the Saints are going about things. The pressure is real because the record is real, and while the season is still young, the patience around a slow start in New Orleans is usually thinner than the margin for error. [Read more 🡒]
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The Saints 1-4 start has naturally turned up the heat around Kellen Moore, but the first-year coach said he is not dwelling on the noise. Moore said he has not met with owner Gayle Benson about the slow start and made clear he has no problem with her public criticism of the record, stressing instead that his focus is on getting the team pointed in the right direction.
Moore said he and Benson see each other several times a week, but they have not sat down to talk through the issues that have followed the poor opening. He also brushed aside speculation about his job status, keeping the message centered on improvement and moving forward as the Saints try to steady themselves after a rough beginning. [Read more 🡒]